What does involution mean in agriculture

Agricultural Involution is a 1963 book by Clifford Geertz on Indonesia.

In his field research, Geertz found that there was a duality between Java and the outer islands, with some areas of the outer islands becoming more and more capital-intensive in terms of production with the help of technology; While some parts of Java are constantly developing in a labor-intensive direction (Geertz, 1963:62). The island of Java is home to 2 3 of Indonesia's population, mainly engaged in food production and small handicrafts; The outer islands, on the other hand, were scattered over a vast area outside Java, and the arrival of colonists gave rise to efficient, large-scale, export-oriented industries.

The lack of capital, the limited amount of land, and administrative obstacles prevented the Javanese from expanding their agriculture outward, resulting in the labor force being filled with limited rice production. In generalizing this process, Geertz uses the concept of "agricultural involution".

It is not possible for the Javanese themselves to become part of the capital economy, nor to transform the already widespread intensive agriculture into an extensive agriculture. Because they lack capital, they can't afford to strip off their excess labor, plus administrative hurdles that prevent them from crossing their borders (because the rest of the land is planted with coffee trees). In this way, slowly, steadily, and inexorably the labor-stuffed agricultural model of 1920 was formed

Countless labours are concentrated in limited rice production, especially in areas where improved irrigation conditions have led to increased yields per unit area as a result of sugarcane cultivation.

After 1900, even with the development of dryland farming, there was only a very small improvement in people's living standards. Rice cultivation, because it is able to maintain marginal labor productivity stably, i.e., more labor input, does not lead to a significant decline in per capita income, at least indirectly, absorbs almost all of the surplus population generated by the arrival of Westerners. For such a process of self-defeat, I call it "the involution of agriculture".

geertz, 1963:80)

The so-called involution of agriculture refers to the fact that the marginal remuneration of agriculture has contracted.

With the increase of population, the decrease of land, the nurturing capacity of the rural society is low, the input of land is not proportional to the income obtained, and the marginal return of farming is decreasing. Mr. Geertz calls it "the involution of agriculture."

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